Module 6 Chapter 5

Repeat Patterns.

I started this chapter by doing a few drawings of the most obvious pattern in my photographs and that was the wooden bridge.

I then looked at one of my drawings of wild garlic to see if I could get a pattern from there.

I took a section off using part of the flower and part of the adjoining leaf.

Shortly after doing these I went for a walk in the valley and took some more photographs of it in summer finery.  This then gave me a new set of ideas to work with.

This is the boardwalk that runs all down one side of the river.  It is made of wood with non-slip strips attached to it.  I drew the design on a sheet of A4 paper, cut it out and then cut it into various sized strips.  I glued these into my sketchbook in a random order then isolated one section as a pattern.

This section was photocopied several times to give me enough pieces to do the repeat pattern.  I did two versions, one of which I coloured with watercolour pencils.

This design is from the trees in the valley with their reflections in the water creating a triangular pattern.  I then decided to make it look more organic and did the one below.  I photocopied the first piece and cut it up and reorganised the pieces to make the lower pattern which could then be repeated.

After this I looked through my new photographs and found this one which had a 'spray' leaf shape.

This made some nice simple repeat designs.

I then took the shape and cut lots of paper leaves out and placed them on the paper as if they were a clump in the woods.  I painted the backgrounds brown to represent the soil.

I then decided to cut the same shape in autumn colours to look like the dead leaves but when they are placed in this way, they look a lot more like a fire.

I then used the leaf and the boardwalk designs within a grid and although I tried to place the shapes randomly, I still managed to get some repeats quite close to each other.

I photocopied my paper piece and marked up some areas that I thought might make interesting designs.

I drew a simplified version of the box on the left and coloured it in.

 I then traced off a copy of it into my sketchbook and then I traced it onto clear plastic..

This is two versions of the two copies.

This is three copies.

This is five copies

This is seven copies.

An interesting chapter this.  I enjoyed looking for the patterns and drawing and printing them.  The boardwalk designs shows that a very simple beginning can develop into a very complex design.

Module 6 Chapter 4

Taking a closer look

This chapter was about looking closely at a drawing and selecting areas to study further.  I started off by making small drawings of some of the photographs I had taken.  I hope you can see these pencil marks.

The first one is the river with the trees alongside.

This second one is the wild garlic.  It's difficult to get the flowers right but I think this will work better with a stamp.  I shall try that in a later chapter.

The third one is marsh marigolds which grow along the river bank.

From here I did two more drawings from a section of the ones above.

I then photocopied these and coloured them using acrylics, watercolours and gouache. 

My river is a bit too dark but I liked the effect I go on these backgrounds/

Feeling a bit adventurous I then did a painting of the river and trees which I did without any drawing, painting straight onto the paper.

I have been painting papers with my final book in mind and have some lovely pieces that would make a background for this part of the river.  

Although I have chosen a topic that doesn't easily offer design shapes because the foliage is dense and there is very little but foliage, I am glad I chose this as my topic for my book.  I think it will come together in the end.  I have been out photographing the area with it's summer plumage on and it is very much richer than it was in spring.